


The quality of mercy

by orphan_account



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Accidental Time Traveling on Regulus Part, And the fact that society was like 'marry young have kids' to everyone, Bc they all be in a war guys, F/M, Gay Albus Dumbledore, Gay Regulus Black, Gellert Grindelwald Being Creepy, Gellert Grindelwald Being an Asshole, Good Albus Dumbledore, Historical homophobia in the magical world!, Human Disaster Albus Dumbledore, Human Disaster Leta Lestrange, Human Disaster Regulus Black, I blame JK influence in the books, Jude Law!Albus Dumbledore, Leta Lestrange Lives, M/M, Magical Supremacy, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Manipulative Gellert Grindelwald, No beta we Die like those Character I didn't let die in this Au, PTSD for everyone, Regulus Black Lives, Regulus deserved better, Regulus morality is weird, Self-Indulgent, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, time-travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24427111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Regulus Black is 34, feels 120, and has spent a life soul-hunting only to arrive too late to save his brother, the only other soul he cared about. The power of spite and binge-spellcrafting without sleeping are too powerful.Regulus is 34, feels 187, and he somehow ended up in Paris, 1927 in time to see how another Dark Lord rises to power. He thinks not.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore/Regulus Black, Leta Lestrange & Regulus Black, Leta Lestrange/Theseus Scamander, Tina Goldstein/Newt Scamander, past Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald - Relationship
Comments: 23
Kudos: 60





	The quality of mercy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Johnnyfer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johnnyfer/gifts).



> So basically, I was practically dared by Johnnyfer to write this pairing. It could not leave me alone.   
> Basically our dear Regulus times travels to the 1940s to defeat Voldemort before he is Voldemort. Only, he ends up in 1927, Paris, in the middle of a Grindelwald Rally. Chaos ensues. (Also, romance.)

Regulus has no idea how he had ended up in this situation. 

“My brothers. My sisters. My friends. The great gift of your applause is not for me. No! It is for yourselves.” A pale man intoned with passion. He talked as if words themselves were spells, and he was crafting the greatest form of magic. He certainly was enchanting the majority of wixen here “You came here today because of a craving, and a knowledge that the old ways serve us no longer. You came today because you crave something new. Something different.”

Regulus wished he had wisened up with age and chosen to take a nap instead of a research binge. Or maybe he did chose right and took that nap. Maybe he was dreaming. 

“It is said that I hate le Non-magiques.” The man continued with his powerful words and their weird intonation that Regulus refused to listen to. On the other wand, he definitely wasn’t dreaming. “The Muggles.”

“Vermin!” The crowd around him shouted and Regulus shivered at the unrestrained venom of the witch next to him. That woman could give his mother a run for her money with how much hatred she could spit.

This what he meant when he said he wasn’t dreaming. His nightmares were never this subtle and intrusive -they preferred to manifest in the direct, most brutal of ways, usually -and his dreams were always bittersweet -like Sirius/Andy/Cissy coming up to him and saying ridiculously sappy things (I missed you. Brother. You made me proud) he would deny to death he wanted. 

“The No-Maj. The Can't-Spells. I do not hate them; I do not.” Grindelwald -yes, _that_ Grindelwald, Regulus couldn’t completely believe it, either- even sounded sad. Regulus was reluctantly impressed. His own Dark Lord was very good at persuasive speeches, but he never managed to look so genuine. “For I do not fight out of hatred." With his experience with Dark Lords Regulus doubted that. "I said that the Muggles are not lesser, but other. Not worthless, but of other value. Not disposable, but of a different disposition.”

Merlin. 

That was- 

If Regulus didn’t know who exactly Grindelwald was and what he stood for-

 _Merlin_. 

“Magic blooms only in rare souls. It is granted to those who live for higher things.” Indeed it did. Regulus didn't fancy having his old prejudices showed into his face in such a rudely beguiling manner. An American colleague, muggle-born, once lent him a book _“'AChristmas carol'_ , it was titled, which Regulus only read out of boredom, really. 

(Soul-searching was more tedious than anyone could imagine, mainly because to find clues about the next one- Regulus still hadn’t recovered for the first, it was so insulting that the madman went and did it at least five more times- was like to find a bowtruckle in a wand pile) 

“Oh, and what a world we could make for all humanity, we who live for freedom, for truth... and for love.” 

Regulus didn’t like to listen to this man speak. First, it sounded horribly reasonable. Second, it was like his ghost of Christmas Past, which was all kinds of offensive, considering that Regulus celebrated Yule, not Christmas and that Ghosts didn’t work that way at all, which leads to third; to be chased by a muggle’s imagination of magic in the middle of a supremacy speech was all kinds of a headache.

“The moment has come to share my vision of the future that awaits if we do not rise up and take our rightful place in the world.”

Fourth, he is surrounded by a very supportive crowd and Regulus had seen oh-so-well how ugly they can become. How quickly they turned against the slightest opposition. Offense building up from person to person and only atrocities come up of it. Fifth, Grindelwald had improvised a public pensive using illusion magic and necromancy-with an added bonus of vaping, which Regulus had _opinions_ about.- and Regulus hated all kinds of necromancy since the locket by principle. And everyone is eating up the projected thoughts.

“Not another war” A man a little below him -who had spent the entire rally muttering with the pretty witch he came with- muttered with horror. Regulus decided he liked him, if only because he seemed the only one in his sight capable of critical thinking. 

“That is what we are fighting! That," his voice was firm," is the enemy.” Regulus wished that he had renounced to warmongering or whatever Dark Lords did when they weren't self-mutilating and chose to teach history at Hogwarts “Their arrogance! Their power lust. Their barbarity.” He started strong and ended up solemn. He was very good at this and Regulus lamented all those boring lessons on Goblin Wars when he could have had a competent teacher like this.

He knew he was being ridiculous, but it was better to regret what he could have had than to let the weight of his weird situation hit home. With the added bonus of Yet Another Dark Lord, who was terrifying, a little because he made the Dark Lord look like an amateur and a little because Regulus one exactly when he will fall. He should have never had experimented with time magic and no sleeping. It was not worth it, even if he’s still whole and the timeline hadn’t untwisted yet in a disastrous, very problematic affair. 

“How long will it take before they turn their weapons on us?” Grindelwald was really giving his all to this speech. Regulus was too tired to deal with all this. 

(He was too tired to start to explain how exactly he had ended up in Paris. It made even less sense than the time travel. He was in _London._ By all logic, he should have ended up in London, around 1945 at the earliest, not in Paris, 1927, smackdown on a Grindelwald rally, just because.

His Dark Lord- Regulus really has to call him another thing because the possessive was giving him the creeps- was only one-year-old, and Regulus didn’t fancy to go to a muggle Orphanage to _murder a_ _baby_ , even if he probably should, by all accounts) 

“Do nothing when I speak of this.” His tone suddenly changed to a warning. One between friends because the man was a _menace._ “You must remain calm and contain your emotions. There are Aurors here among us.”

Merlin, Regulus knew this was going to end up in violence. He called it. 

“Come closer, brother wizards, join us.”

Was it terrible of him to hope that the Aurors listened to the madman just so he didn’t have to duel a hundred unknowns in the wrong timeline? He had just set a mob against them and Regulus rather disliked mob-violence. He disliked even more to be collateral damage to mob-violence. 

“They have killed many of my followers. It is true.” Grindelwald mourned. He was almost as bad at it as his Dark Lord. “They confined me and tortured me in New York.”

It was terrible of him. The question was if it was as terrible as the urge to send chocolates to New York for that bit of information. Probably not. 

“They had struck down their fellow witches and wizards, for the simple crime of seeking the truth, for wanting freedom. Your anger, your desire for revenge is natural.”

Then again, madman, so it was likely a yes. 

Damn those anti-apparition wards. Blast them to pieces, Regulus wanted to be gone yesterday. 

There was a flash of awfully familiar green light to his right and was that? 

“No!” Grindelwald shouted, apparently horrified. 

Yeah. That was a dead witch. Killed by an Auror. Bloody fantastic. 

And there went Grindelwald, all gentle and caring, holding the woman as if her death mattered to him as more than a way to prove his point. "Take this young warrior back to her family,” he said softly, convincingly. Regulus hated it here. 

(He hated it back in his timeline as well but at least he knew what was going on on that one. Mostly. 

...He could admit that the teenagers riding thestrals right into the Ministry threw him off for a bit) 

“Disapparate. Leave. Go forth from this place and spread the word. It is not we who are violent.”

Well, that was his cue to leav-

Wait. He didn’t know Paris, or at least 1927 Paris. He couldn’t apparate with no clear destination. He couldn’t apparate into another country, not even mentioning the consequences of a sudden appearance in the middle of his ‘curse first, ask later’ family claiming to be a Black. 

Oh. 

Oh no. 

He could try walking? He turned to see like, four people remaining. The Aurors, mostly, recognizable for their dark clothes and dark scowls, and Grindelwald underlings, who shared the same characteristics. It was rather difficult to say who was who, in fact. Regulus could even make a game out of-No, he couldn't. Mordred, not sleeping had really affected his preservation instincts.

Instincts that (should have) told him to be gone. Apparation was out, but maybe he could Side-Along a kind stranger. However, at a first glance, a Wizard already managed to glare at him while he disapparated, followed by two more wixen or twelve. All glaring. 

So. Asking for a sidelong was out of the question, considering people apparently thought he was an Auror. He had never, in his life, had this problem before. People thinking he was a criminal yes, he just had to say his whole name and Boom! He was suddenly Lord Voldemort Jr. People thinking he was a law-abiding citizen? People thinking he was an officer of the law? Merlin, what a weird sensation. He was rather offended but also three steps away from preening. Everyone was aware of his politic in No more Dark Lords for Regulus, thank you. 

“Let’s take him,” A dark-haired man said behind him. ‘Let’s not’ Regulus wanted to add, knowing his history lessons and the current date but knew better. Then Grindelwald cast a ring of blue fire that erupted around him- did he planned this to this point? The scenery was a little too perfect. How….slytherin of him. Of course, at that casual show of power, his allies didn’t wait to join him, harmlessly jumping over the fire. Not the first choice of Regulus to differentiate Auror from Death Eater-wait, wrong Dark Lord. Still, did Grindelwald supporters had a name? A theme? Actually, that was irrelevant to the current situation. Merlin, he needed to sleep. 

Oh, would you look at that, he could choose who to burn. How delightful, a silent _Protego diabolical_ , which was just a sentient step away from fiendfyre. In a rare (at the moment) burst of rationality, Regulus decided to stay where he was. He was good at looking bored and superior-truly, the pureblood trait.- It ought to confuse the majority in wondering his alliances. Let them play Aruor or Death Ea-godammit, how were the Grindelwald crooks called? It was haunting him in a most unhelpful manner. Whatever, he would call them the GrindelCronies. 

“Aurors, join me in this circle, pledge to me your eternal allegiance, or die.” Grindelwald really was all for speeches, how despicable of him, using his strong traits like that. Regulus would prefer if the Dark Lords were a little stupider or at least a little less convincing. “Only here shall you know freedom, only here shall you know yourself.”

Regulus would call that last piece exhibit A. 

“Play by the rules!” He taunted, throwing flames at the fleeing Aurors and destroying a couple of them. “No cheating, children”

Regulus eyed the cursed flames coldly, wondering if the man would come for him next. Little could stop this kind of flames. Regulus definitely did not have the time or the resources to create a mass-scale _Purgeo_ to purify them and then vanish them. They were too big and too controlled, for one. He could probably throw some fiendfyre, fight fire with fire, and control _those_ flames. He would solve the problem, but then he would have another, even worse, problem. It may be an unpopular opinion (Once, he met a Hungarian arsonist who loved to threw fiendfyre at his problems. He was, sadly, not the only one who opted for that method of problem-solving) but, generally speaking, the less fiendfyre you threw at your situation, the better. For everyone involved. 

“He knows who I am,” a very sad-looking young man said suddenly at his struggling companion. She clearly was the brain of the pair. 

The _Protego_ Charm would have to do, then, even if at most it was just a stalling tactic. At least he wouldn’t burn. 

“He knows what you were born,” the woman pleaded with him, probably not wanting to date a GrindelCrony, “not who you are!”

Alas, but the man didn’t listen to her and jumped to join Grindelwald. Another man, with a suitcase- who went to a rally while traveling? Society these days, honestly- tried to stop him, fruitlessly throwing magic at the flames. Well. At least he didn’t die. Good try, suitcase-man. Good try, dramatic companion, please don’t cry in public now, the GrindelCronies were not worth it and public display of emotions made Regulus uncomfortable. 

“Queenie” The man who had critical thinking tried holding onto his harebrained companion. “You gotta wake up.” Unfortunately, his critical thinking didn't seem to affect his taste in women. A Grindelcrony, honestly, the taste of some people. At least she was pretty. 

“Jake,” She said, breathless, “he’s the answer” Oh, give Regulus a break. He was clearly the problem. “He wants what we want”

“No no no,” Jake tried to hold onto her, “no, no”

“Credence,” Grindelwald was hugging the sad-looking man. Who ought to have a class on how to stand or seven, hisposture was offending Regulus' delicate pureblood sensibilities. “This all has been for you” Mordred, what a bald-faced _liar_. 

Regulus wondered when exactly the Supremacist’s rally had turned into a peak break-up spot and how to make it stop. 

“Come with me,” 'Queenie' said as if that was a reasonable course of action, the GrindelCrony, her. 

“Honey, no”

Regulus knew he liked Jake. Pity about the GrindelQueenie.

“Walk with me!!” She suddenly shouted, in hysterics and out of them in a blink. 

“You’re crazy,” Jake said and Regulus agreed. GirndelQueenie turned her back to him as if offended and ran to the flames, ignoring Jacob pleas to stop. Then he joined Grindelwald and Regulus had to stop paying attention to the drama and start to pay attention to the fire. 

Frankly, it was annoying. _Protego_ could only do so much.

“Scamander!” Grindelwald suddenly shouted, “do you think Dumbledore would mourn you?” Then he sent the most concentrated set of flames yet to the two probably-brothers standing there, uncooked.

That...said a whole lot while saying very little. What did it even mean? Morgana, Regulus wanted to leave this place once and for all. Say whatever you wanted about Death Eaters meeting but at least they didn't involve so much personal drama. (Just Bella's drama. It was rather painful but at least it wasn't _embarrassing_ ) 

“Why do you care about who Dumbledore would mourn?” Regulus grumbled to himself, mostly. Then the flames came for him. Regulus batted them away. He had gotten very good at avoiding dying in his Soul-hunting adventures. He had a lot of practice. 

“Who even are you?” Grindelwald said, suddenly interested in him. Regulus resisted the urge to curse himself and his big snarky mouth. It was the Black genes, they naturally didn't like to be unnoticed.

“Not an Auror,” he said, because he was stupid, it seemed. “Not a follower either, sorry.” Not sorry at all, in fact.

Grindelwald looked at him for a moment and then discarded him as something uninteresting. It had mostly to do with the Scamanders -wait, Scamander as in _Newt Scamander_? The magizoologist? Regulus had lov-

Regulus could die, right now, if he were to be distracted. 

“Grindelwald, stop!” A woman suddenly ordered with true pureblood authority- it was all in the posture, really. That's why sad-looking GrindelCrony was so offensive, he didn't knew hos to stand. _Children_ knew how to stand, it was absurd.- The woman naturally captured all the attention in the amphitheater, which was the perfect opportunity for him to disillusion himself (with the added effect of a tortured scream) in case Grindelwald were to notice him a second time. Sure, he could probably discover him if he looked but Regulus knew his Dark Lords

They were terribly arrogant. And Regulus was extremely good at faking his death. (He had a lot of practice at that, too)

“Leta!” Exclaimed the brown-haired Scamander. Regulus rather liked her, even if she was either suicidal or a supremacist. He respected style. The brown-haired Scamander- they looked too much alike to not be at least _cousins-_ was fighting most bravely against the flames. Pity he couldn’t win. 

“This one I believe I know,” Grindelwald said, acting as if the fighting Scamander was nothing. Were all Dark Lords this overpowered? Regulus rather despised them “Leta Lestrange” 

Regulus disliked Lestranges by principle -Rabastan and Robustus leave an impression -but he never knew a _female_ one. He thought they drowned them at birth. 

“Despised entirely amongst wizardkind,” Grindelwald continued. Rudely. “Unloved, mistreated” Regulus didn’t like the parallels he was getting between this woman and himself. “Yet brave” This was just like he imagined his ‘welcome back you traitor’ speech pre- _Cruciatus_ would have had gone after the locket. “So very brave”

Regulus stared a little more. He felt a pang on his chest and ignored it.

“Time to come home,” Grindelwald said, offering her his hand. Lestrange took it, only to not follow Grindelwald at the last moment. 

“I love you” She said to the Scamanders, that _expression_ on her face. It was making him feel things but Regulus for the first time, focused on the personal drama of it all. Because this rally was truly the best break up spot ever, apparently. She then threw a curse at Grindelwald, which he batted away like nothing, and one to his magical skull, which exploded violently. “Go!” She shouted at the brothers ignoring the sudden blinding light and the enraged and uncontrolled ring of fire “Go! Go!”

Did, 

Did she just-

Oh, Mordred's balls. Now that she had done that he couldn't let her die. 

Regulus threw three _Protegos_ before he knew what he was doing and caught Lestrange with him, running upstairs and dragging the confused woman, who nonetheless started following once she figured out what he was trying to do.

“The Disillusion Charm!” He shouted at her. “Do you know it?”

“Not well!” She gasped, losing a shoe. She cast a _Protego Maxima_ at the flames, which almost certainly saved both their lives 

“Fine!” Regulus continued to run, the brown-haired Scamander still furiously trying to reach them. “How are your tortured screams?”

“Waiting for certain death to shine”

“What about a fake one?”

And then Grindelwald pointed his wand at them

Regulus didn’t think, he threw the first spell in mind. _‘Expelliermus!’_ Grindelwald had to duck to avoid the sudden red light, looking bewildered at the source of the spell. Leta threw another _Protego_ , which saved them again from a very painful death

“I don’t think we have the time for one!” She told him, looking rather hurried. 

“Leta!” Brown-Scamander insisted on trying to reach them. Regulus and Lestrange ended up back to back, climbing sideways to the faraway exit like a pair of especially stupid fire crabs.

(Well, maybe not _fire_ crabs, all things considered.)

“I can’t apparate,” Regulus exclaimed, throwing _Protego_ after _Protego_ at the cursed flames “I don’t know Paris!”

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake,” Lestrange said, “Theseus go away!” She ungratefully screamed at his desperate beau just before grabbing his arm to side-along him. 

They ended up just outside the amphitheater, both breathing hard. His Disillusionment Charm has disappeared, revealing him to the world in all of his insomniatic glory. 

“Thanks but who the hell are you?” Lestrange asked him, once she could stand straight. 

“Regulus B-” He cut himself off before he told her his whole life, too. He really wasn’t thinking straight, to give away his name like that. He had spent years on the run, he should have known better. Lestrange opened her mouth to add commentary to her disbelieving face but she was interrupted.

“Leta!” Brown-Scamander shouted at the distance. Lestrange immediately turned to the voice, which was growing desperate “LETA!”

“Theseus!” She called back, “In here!”

The man came up running, like a fool, and had to be tackled out of incoming flames by Suitcase-Scamander. Flames that were coming to their direction too, more furious and uncontrolled than before. 

“Run!” He told Lestrange before throwing himself at one of the mausoleum doors. He didn’t know how they remained unscathed by the cursed fire, but they did. Suddenly, rather than flames, Regulus could see fire beasts, eager to consume anything under their touch “The spell is out of control!” He said, shooting at the draconic head of fire at reach. 

The next minutes were a mix of shouting, running, throwing spells at fire beasts, and praying for their lives, with random people joining in. They finally reached some stairs that hopefully would lead to the exits of this terrible, no-good, mausoleum but an elderly man was awaiting them at the base of the stairs.

“Together in a circle!” The incredibly old and fragile man suddenly shouted at them. _Randomly_.“Your wand to the earth of all Paris will be destroyed!”

Regulus didn’t stop to second-guess the stranger, too desperate for his brain to start being paranoid or to devise a magical way to deal with all of this. They divided themselves in pairs, and Lestrange was with him.

“Finite!” He shouted with the rest of them, Lestrange doing the same at his side, digging his wand into the ground. A ring of red light erupted between them, sending a red ring of fire and trapping the fire beasts. 

Merlin help them, they were fully formed draconians. The ones that didn’t go away if you simply blasted their heads. A few seconds later and they all would have been consumed. Thank Morgana for the random elder. 

The beasts disappeared slowly, either trying to escape the red ring just to the ring to absorb them or to consume all they could of the mausoleum before being consumed themselves. They likely cursing the land for at least a couple of centuries, and Regulus couldn't bring himself to care. Let this be a lesson to future GrindelCronies: if there's a rally, there's a curse on the land for eternity. 

There was a beat in the sudden silence as if they were making sure that the fire was truly extinguished before Regulus let out a loud groan and let himself fall into the ground.

“I bloody hate Paris,” Regulus said with feeling. Lestrange snorted next to him. They slowly picked themselves up to join the rest of them. 

“Are you a Black?” She casually asked, as if they were not almost-dying five seconds ago. Regulus stared at her. “There’s no other family that names themselves after stars, and you look the part” She added as a bland apology. 

Regulus...

Regulus really should walk away from this mess and try to do what he time-traveled for -which was, by year, to kill a baby. A thing that historically, has not gone well for the murderer. See Lord Voldemort Vs Baby, 1981. -However, for some reason, he didn’t want to. Not yet at least. It probably was the lack of sleep and the adrenaline of the fight, the unholy combination. 

“It’s complicated” He admitted

“I also thought the Blacks were Grindelwald supporters” 

“Well,” Regulus tried to say something not terribly incriminating. The truth was that he had never thought to ask his grandparents about their political views on _Voldemort_ , much less on Grindelwald. “I am not” 

Years of the best tutoring and this is the eloquence of the last Black. Staggering. 

“There’s, also, already a Regulus.” She doesn’t look as if she believes him. Regulus mumbled something incoherent. He was too tired to form full-fledged conspiracies. “And you, sir, are the wrong age to be Regulus Black, considering he’s nineteen.” 

“Oh”

“And you look nothing alike,” Lestrange waved a hand around her face, “apart from the eyes.”

“Ah.” Regulus cleared his throat. “That’s...unfortunate”

“Indeed”

“Leta!” Brown-Scamander shouted, again, in the distance “LETA!”

“Theseus!” Lestrange called back in a repetitive and yet no less desperate way “Newt!” Grindelwald may be gone but the personal drama was back.

Brown-Scamander and Suitcase-Scamander both apparated away to their side. (Well, Theseus and Newt but Regulus was trying no to think about _Theseus and Newt Scamander_ , thank you very much) and didn’t waste time to engulf Lestrange in a hug.

“ _Never_ ,” Brown-Scamander said with feeling, “do that to me again. Do you hear me? _Never again_ ”

He was crying, Regulus noted. 

“Leta” Suitcase-Scamander ran and joined the impromptu hug “What were you thinking, Leta!”

“It’s okay,” Leta said very softly. “I’m fin-”

“Is that a _Niffler?_ ” Regulus exclaimed with the intelligence and tact of a flobberworm. In his defense, he didn’t expect a Niffler, of all things, in the pocket of Suitcase-Scamander. After a very near dead experience. After traveling in time for almost half a century. After not sleeping for more than two days. After finding his brother- 

Well, it had been a very hard, very long day (days?) for Regulus. 

“Oh, yes,” Suitcase-Scamander said, possibly being Newt Scamander himself with an awkward air. “His name is Leonard”

“My name is Regulus,” it’s the stupid thing that came out of his mouth. Lestrange looks rather unimpressed, even if the effect is ruined with her hair and clothes in such disarray. She was also crying, as was Brown-Scamander but he didn’t seem to pay him any attention. Regulus resolved not to be offended, he had clearly been threatened by how many couples had broken up in the Grindelwald rally. 

“Mine is Newt Scamander,” Suitcase-Scamander said, extending an amicable hand in greeting. Regulus shook it, feeling rather shaken himself.

“The author of _‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’_?” He asked in a weak voice. 

“Yes,” Suitcase-Scamander looked proud and shy, and rather adorable. “Have you read it?”

“Mhm.” He smiled blandly. “I loved the,” he gestured vaguely, “Occamies.” _Clearly_ , his brain couldn’t process more information and had shut down. What an inane thing to say. 

Regulus opened his mouth to try to look less like a witless moron but instead fell to the ground in a dead faint, feeling hugely relieved about it. 

**Author's Note:**

> No Albus in this chapter yet, but I didn't kill Leta, which, in my books, is a huge win.   
> She was super interesting and I do not care for her ending. Queenie? Not so much. To be frank, she was off her rocket the whole movie, to beginning to end and it won't be me who denies a woman of her agency, be it good or bad (or stupid, but whatever Queenie, be a gullible legilimens, see if I care) and anyway. It's interesting.   
> Also, I included the Grindelwald speech because it was the best thing of the movie. I   
> Leta and Regulus will have a fantabulous friendship, not because I planned it, but because they wanted to.   
> I am NOT used to writing romance in any way and I do not know if I'm able to write smut, so, don't get your hopes up yet.


End file.
